A NORTH Wales policeman boasted to his lover that he sold a photograph of Sophie Hook's killer to the Press, a court heard yesterday.

During an affair Pc David Gardner told Nicola Daffern he leaked the custody photograph of Howard Hughes for &#xA3;10,000.

Preston Crown Court was told Ms Daffern asked Gardner "if there was anything in work he should not have done".

Ms Daffern said, "He said that he had sold a photograph to a newspaper of the man accused of murdering Sophie Hook."

She said they were having a cigarette-in a hotel bathroom at the

Gardner, 34, stayed with Ms Daffern at the Travel Inn in Cannock, Staffordshire, on two occasions in February 2000, including Valentine's night.

Ms Daffern said, "He said he met a reporter at the Great Orme in Llandudno in a cafeteria.

"It was round about the time of the investigation - he didn't give an exact date. He said he needed the money as he had recently split up with his wife."

The affair started before Christmas 1999 and the mother-of-two left

her partner and hoped to marry Gardner, the jury was told.

Gardner, of Llanrwst Road, Colwyn Bay, denies two charges of corruptly receiving &#xA3;5,000 for handing over a confidential police report to the Press, and receiving another quantity of cash in return for the photograph.

Ms Daffern said Gardner told her his brother, Geoffrey Gardner, had set up the meeting with the journalist.

Tim Holroyde QC, defending, told the jury Ms Daffern was lying because Gardner left her and had lied to her.